218 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



taken into consideration with a new horse, and 

 due allowance made for them. 



A man who has an establishment and keeps 

 many horses has one very difficult problem. It is 

 customary for the coachman to get commissions, 

 whether the coachman has been consulted in the 

 purchase or not. The dealers understand this, 

 and add to the price of the horse what will have 

 to be paid to the coachman. I have had dealers 

 ask me plainly whether I kept a coachman to set- 

 tle with. And once when I sold a horse to a dis- 

 tinguished professional man in New York, he 

 sent a check for $50 more than the agreed price, 

 asking that that sum be given to the coachman as 

 he did not want the horse lamed or put out of 

 condition. This is a stable tradition that we have 

 borrowed from England, and is a tyranny that 

 should be suppressed not only by law but by cus- 

 tom. I sold a horse recently to a gentleman at a 

 price not at all above his value. His negro coach- 

 man called at my house for his commission. I 

 sent him away in short order and at once wrote 

 his master a note telling of the visit and its ob- 

 ject, and requesting him to pay his own servants. 



